My mother used every material, newspaper, everything to use as a diaper. But that was one way of dying. Radiation works in mysterious and random ways. Some automatically, some a week later, some months later. 71 the horrible thing is, years later, people are still dying from the effects of the radiation. Now, hibakushas in other words, survivors survivors struggled in the aftermath. Surviving in unprecedented catastrophic horror. And the unprecedented sociopolitical chaos due to japans defeat and Occupation Forces strict control over us. If i start giving details of that, that would take the whole morning. Maybe i will stop. But struggle in the aftermath was very difficult. Japan to university in upon my graduation, i was offered a scholarship. I came to virginia, very close to the city. That was 1954. The United States tested the biggest Hydrogen Bomb in the South Pacific at the time, creating that kind of situation, of the hiroshimanagasaki experience. Japan was up in arms. The United States kept continuing testing and actually using them. That is when the empire of japan became fully aware of the nature of Nuclear Weapons. Anyway, at that time, i left japan, arrived in virginia in august. I was interviewed by the press and i gave my honest opinions. I was fresh out of college. I believed in honesty. Thought. D them what i i thought the United StatesNuclear Policy was bad. You look at all the killing and the damage to the environment in the pacific. That has to stop and all these kinds of things. The next day, i started to get hate letters. How dare you . Do you realize where you are, who is giving the scholarship . Go back to japan. A few days after my arrival, i encountered this kind of situation and i was horrified. It was a traumatic experience. What am i going to do . I just arrived. I cannot go back. And i cannot put a zipper over my mouth and pretend i did not know anything about the hiroshima bombing. Would i be able to survive in north america . Well, i spent a week without going to the classroom. I just had to be alone. It was a painful and lonely time. It was a new country. I hardly knew anybody. Faced. N this question i but im happy to say that i came out of that more determined and with stronger convictions. If i dont speak up, who will . I actually experienced it. Determined to share my experience and warn the world. This is just the beginning of the nuclear arms race. I just have to warn the world. So that was the beginning. I am reminded of my time. I think i explained briefly why i have been doing what i have been doing. Most of my adult life, i have been speaking at high schools, universities, womens clubs, rotary club. Anywhere people want to learn what it means to be the nuclear age. From my perspective, i know the government says one thing, but this is what i feel. I suggest it is time to stop. So thank you very much. [applause] thank you very much. Extremely moving, as always, for us to hear these stories from hiroshima and nagasaki, as well as radiation victims. Downwinders, South Pacific islanders, and kazakhstan, because they continue to suffer radiation poisoning around the world. I will open it up for questions now. I will pose the first question to setsuko get the ball rolling. We have about 25 minutes to continue discussion. First of all, give us a sense of how you came from virginia, where i am so glad that you were determined to speak truth to power, as we say. How did you come from virginia to toronto, canada . Ms. Thurlow i got the scholarship to come to virginia. The school gave me a full scholarship. By that time, i had some sort of idea i wanted to become a social worker. Because in that chaotic situation, everybody needed help. My Church Minister dedicated his life to supporting those people. I wanted to become a helping person, someone who can help and contribute to society. For that, i needed social work professional training. The training in japan at that time was not quite wellestablished. So i came to study directly from japan. Mr. Walker to the United States or canada . Ms. Thurlow United States. Then i went to university of toronto to study and then i went back to japan. In 1962, i got married. I had two little children by that time. Came back to canada in 1962. Ever since then, i have been a permanent resident of canada. And i have done social work all my life. Mr. Walker i give you enormous credit for sticking with it this long, this many years. It is very important, what you do. Practically no one has experienced, except those that survived those bombings. Thate else has survived bombing, it is not usual for people to understand what Nuclear Weapons are all about. With that, let me turn to the audience. I know there are many questions. I have many more i could pose, but i would rather turn to you and give you the opportunity to ask questions. Please introduce yourself first. Because we are on cspan, wait for the microphone. Hi. Alex liebowitz. I was wondering what people thought had happened. Japan had experienced normal bombing from nonNuclear Weapons. This was something where it was one explosion. Did people understand that. What did they think happened when the blast came . Ms. Thurlow well, my Immediate Reaction was finally, americans got us. Nobody knew about a new type of weapon. We thought it was usual incendiary bombs. The United States practiced indiscriminate attacks on major cities. Were bombed,e about 70 of the urban centers japan was all leveled. Talking with tokyo, and one night, over 100,000 people killed. Thousands of tons of incendiary hiroshima, only one did the trick. Most of the cities disappeared. But we had no idea. It took some time before we knew clearly what it was. The government reported a new type of bomb was used. That is all we knew. Mr. Walker yes, right in the middle. I am from italy. There would be many questions to ask, but i will just stick to maybe one. You started your presentation indicating that there was a miracle that you are alive. I think that all of us around here, we are alive and it is a miracle. Since there were so many occasions on the border of a nuclear war. Since you are in a category which, unfortunately disappeared, i think what is very fortunate is to maintain the momentum of awareness of International Public opinion on that. I think one of the major events was president obamas visit to hiroshima. What is the best way to perpetrate testimony and the awareness and the education of people, in your view, to maintain momentum. Ms. Thurlow you mentioned mr. Obama, president obamas visit to hiroshima. That brought 600 reporters to the city. All around the world, that was reported. He has that kind of power and influence. Even i, in toronto on that day, i had eight interviews. Could you imagine . The tv stations coming to my place and asking what i thought about it. What power the president has. Maybe he can do Something Like this create the opportunity so he can mobilize. Not just him, but all of us who know something. We can intensify our efforts to make this issue credible and visible. I do not think we are doing enough. I dont feel that the government is encouraging the people to learn what it is like to live in the nuclear age. Government is not. Whether they think the ministry or the department of education, they should be doing a better job. As i know in japan and in canada, i dont think the School System is doing a good job either. I think more budget could be directed to those educational institutions and intensify the teaching. Of course, you have churches and the families, homes. The childrens parents grew up without knowing about it. So they are hesitant. So they avoid childrens questions. The children learn because parents are horrified when they raise such questions. Situation. Otic anyway, everybody, the Education System and the religious system, the government can look at the reality and improve the situation. About the survivors, the number is dwindling. They have been leaving us with their dream of abolition in unfulfilled. E its very sad. Well, i really take my hat off for the way they have dedicated their lives near and far. At the same time, we are very disappointed. We do not quite feel rewarded. The public attention to us is limited. When i first came to the United States, people kept justifying hiroshima. They used the bomb. I am afraid to say, even today, a majority of people maintain that mentality. So that is how the progress we made is limited in the knowledge. I hope i am wrong. I would like to hear other peoples opinions on this. Mr. Walker right here and then i will come over here and then i will go in the back. You spoke at the vienna conference about the humanitarian impact of Nuclear Weapons and you were recently at the Openended Group in geneva on the elimination of Nuclear Weapons. Band and the stigmatization. I would like you to speak about the humanitarian initiative. Ms. Thurlow i have been working on the issue of Nuclear Disarmament for many years. For a long time, i felt that so much work was being done. I mean, people put so much emphasis on Weapons Systems and the theory of deterrence and they believe it and all the associated topics. Even when i went to the peace meetings, they were spending time to discuss and catch up with Government Programs in that line. I used to feel, my gosh, when we talk about the Nuclear Weapons, it is what those things did to humanity. What happened to their lives, to their cities. But somehow, that kind of attention was lacking. Several years ago, when i started hearing about the humanitarian impact of Nuclear Weapons, i thought, wow. It is about time. We should be looking at this. This is a real basic issue. Of course, that does not negate the importance of security. Some people criticize this movement by saying, too much attention to humanitarian issues. I dont think that is what you are saying. But i was delighted the attention was taken from deterrence to the humanitarian consequences. I was delighted to see a strong sentiment. The mounting interest on the topic around the world. And not only whitehaired people, but the younger people. Once we grow up, we want our world to be there. They are very clearly awake. To push this idea. So, i was very pleased i am part of this movement. Another thing which pleased me was other Nuclear Weapons have a towardbligation to work article 6 but fulfilling that much wasn and not happening. It was a huge disappointment. It has been 45 years. What have they produced . The majority of Nuclear Weapons states should they have waited for Nuclear Weapons states to take the lead and work for disarmament. They are not doing it. We are not going to wait anymore. Were going to stand up and join our hands together and work with ngos and civil society. Now lets go and 427 nonNuclear Weapons states, they are all working together to work for prohibition and eliminate Nuclear Weapons by creating a legally binding instrument. To me, the majority of Nuclear Weapons states are so impatient with the lack of progress by the conference of disarmament. Treaty andration so on. Ok, if something is not happening there, we have to see what we can do. By standing up, those socalled weaker nations, coming together in number and putting Heads Together and working out the most effective measures to achieve elimination, prohibition. I think it seems now the entire world is waking up and ready to work. I think this is great. Five Nuclear Weapon states recognized by the United Nations and an additional 4. Nine states want to keep what they have and not to lose their obligations. It seems the whole world is waking up to realize the shared responsibility. A lot of young people involved in this movement. That is very good news for me. We have people to work with and some good ideas are coming. Would you like to say a few words about that . You people know all about that. Mr. Walker this is a group of experts. Some of us know a little more and some a little less on different areas. It is wonderful to hear your impressions, which are very special and extremely important today. Because we do not hear from survivors that much even in washington, d. C. , or even in japan. It is very good. We made progress today largely because of people like yourself and your self and your colleagues, who made a stand and are speaking truth to power on the humanitarian impact of Nuclear Weapons. I think it is 126 countries that have signed the humanitarian pledge. 127 now. Good. I stand corrected. We have a couple more questions and we will try to keep the questions brief and get through everybody. Thank you. Fleck, i work with physicians for social responsibility. I work with our mutual friend who sends his greetings. You just answered a lot of my questions. Physicians for social responsibility is working with the International Campaign to abolish Nuclear Weapons. To promote the prohibition and elimination of Nuclear Weapons. I agree with you about the new momentum that is happening. But there is a lot of skepticism here in the United States about the prohibition treaty because none of the Nuclear Weapons states have they are pretty much all opposing it. None of them have supported it and none of the umbrella states that are under the Nuclear Umbrella have supported it. So are you optimistic that we will still achieve such a treaty despite all this opposition . Ms. Thurlow i know there seems to be several different approaches in achieving prohibition elimination. But as one new yorkbased lawyer said, those differences of emphasis can be worked out. So, whether it is the Nuclear Weapons convention or ban treaty, i think a bit of differences can be worked out. Lets first prohibit and stop the use of the Nuclear Weapons. Surely, we can achieve it. Why not . We should seize this opportunity. I think the time is now. I have waited 71 years. If we do not seize this opportunity, and i know mr. Obama talks about maybe this lifetime. N in my prague and it in once in hiroshima. But why not . If there is a Strong Political will, it can happen. So yes, i am still hopeful and i believe it can happen. A lot of people are pushing for it. If we can get other people to join in the effort and keep pushing, why not . And why dont we communicate our strong feelings to mr. President even before he leaves the office . We cannot afford to wait generations. 71 years is much too long to wait. We waste it. I believe we can and we should. Mr. Walker lets take another couple of questions quickly. [applause] somebody in the back with their hand up. Es right here. I am Kathy Robinson with womens action for new direction. Mostly, i want to say thank you for being here and thank you for all of the work that you have done and continue to do. It was phenomenal and amazing that the president to hiroshima. But, the reality is that this president , with the complicity of the entire u. S. Government and congress, is aiming at spending 1 trillion over the next 30 years for the next generation of Nuclear Weapons. We seem to find a lot of money generation of Nuclear Weapons and not for the next generation of humans. I wonder if you could comment on that and how these Budget Priorities are really driving a dangerous future. Ms. Thurlow i share your profound sense of sadness and even anger. If somebody gave me the invitation to speak with the president , that is one of the first things i would talk about. Yes. That is great. I dont know what more to say. I just feel very disturbed by that. And yet, when he turns around, he says beautiful things. This time inishing oshima he would no. No. Well, i do not know what more to say, really. You know, i have been working all my life. I work in schools and with the families, learning disabilities of the children. Those schools are falling apart. They dont have enough budget for necessary supply. Why cant we direct your taxpayer money to hospitals, schools instead of 1 trillion going to produce Nuclear Weapons. Wicked weapons. I do not even call it a weapon. It is a device of mass murder. Somehow, we have to ask the president to deprioritize. I really dont know what else to say. It is just the crime depriving humanity in order to look out for our socalled security. And based on the false pretense of deterrence as security. Justmy perspective, i cannot. I am sorry. Maybe my response is not sufficient, but i just share your opinion. Mr. Walker thank you. I think your response is very appropriate. Deserves a good round of applause from us. To bring us back to reality to some extent. [applause] ms. Thurlow once again, thank you so much for this. It means a lot to me. When i go to japan, i will take it with me and share it with the survivors. Thank you for your support and recognition. Mr. Walker and thank you. We are delighted and honored to be able to honor you. I also want to thank kathleen sullivan, who i fa